Maverick MPAA Rating: PG Entertainment: +3 Content: -1 1/2

Maverick, the character created in the western TV series of 1958-62, comes to the big screen in this much anticipated comedy western. Mel Gibson plays Bret Maverick, an easy going, card-playing gambler in the old wild west. As soon as he arrives in a small western town, he heads for the local saloon and joins a table full of poker players. His goal is to somehow acquire the $25 thousand required to enter the big poker-playing championship in St. Louis in only four days. This leads to all sorts of humorous, though sometimes violent, poker-playing adventures. Comical encounters with homesteaders and a very unconventional Indian chief add to the fun. In poker playing, as well as extra-curricula romantic activities, Maverick meets his match in the form of Annabelle Bransford (Jodie Foster), an attractive saloon card shark. He also has an uneasy, but deceptive, relationship with Zane Cooper (James Garner), who supposedly is the local lawman. With cash in hand, our hero finally arrives in St. Louis. Mel Gibson makes for a very likeable, funny gambler in this film which will probably please movie goers looking for some escapist fun.

What is disappointing, though not surprising, are several obscenities which creep into the dialogue and one jarring profanity. Also, Maverick and Annabelle engage in some comical sexual romps, including sensual kissing in a hotel room and one scene in which sex supposedly takes place on the floor behind a bed. On other occasions, some comical suggestive quips are thrown in for laughs. Maverick frequently has to fight his way out of difficult situations, so gun and fist fights are a major feature of the film. At times, these become surprisingly brutal. MAVERICK turns out to be a rather typical PG rated comedy which offers some real fun, but has enough rough language and sexual content to warrant caution, particularly for children.

Preview Reviewer: John Evans
Distributor: Warner Brothers, 4000 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91522